Both Xu Ye and Chen Hansong were equally blindsided.
Boyfriend?
Xu Ye’s heart did something embarrassing.
Chen Hansong looked like he’d swallowed something sour. Watching his daughter standing there holding hands with some boy he’d never seen — it was like a wild boar had crashed through the back garden and, right in front of him, made off with the prize cabbage he’d been tending for seventeen years.
“What boyfriend? Does your mother know about this?”
“Of course not.”
Qingqing kept her grip on Xu Ye’s hand and pulled him toward the exit, adding loudly as she went: “Let’s go.”
And just like that, Xu Ye found himself being dragged out of a bank by a girl he’d met three times.
In the car out front, Wang Ruxue stared.
They’re together again. How many times has this been now?
More importantly — why are they holding hands?!
“Excuse me,” Xu Ye said once they were outside, pulling his hand back slightly. “Did you ask for my permission before saying that?”
Qingqing yanked open the car door. “Get in.”
“Where are we going?”
“Get in.”
“Fine.”
He got in.
Qingqing slid in after him. Through the window, she caught a glimpse of her father still standing at the entrance, frozen. Something quietly satisfied moved across her expression.
“Qingqing, what’s going on—”
“Auntie Wang. The mall, please.”
Wang Ruxue glanced uncertainly at Chen Hansong, then pressed the accelerator and pulled away.
Xu Ye broke the silence first. “Was that your dad?”
“None of your business.”
“Funny — it kind of became my business when you told him I was your boyfriend.”
“I was just—”
“Just what? You didn’t ask me.”
Chen Qingqing took a slow breath and let her voice settle back into its usual calm. “So what do you want?”
Xu Ye thought about it. “Call it a favor you owe me.”
“You have some nerve.”
“Say what you want.” He pulled out his phone, opened his WeChat QR code, and held it toward her. “Add me first.”
Qingqing pulled out her iPhone 5s — the newest model — and scanned it. [TL: The iPhone 5s was Apple’s flagship in 2014, still relatively new and considered a premium device at the time.]
“Right — I don’t actually know your name.”
“Chen Qingqing.”
Back inside the bank, a client manager stepped up beside Chen Hansong.
“Branch President — was that your daughter just now?”
Chen Hansong was in a foul mood. He gave a short grunt.
“And the boy?”
“I don’t know him. Probably a classmate.” He wasn’t about to tell anyone that some stranger had just been introduced as his daughter’s boyfriend.
The client manager said, “He was just in — opened a new account and set up a securities trading account.”
“A securities account?”
The kid looked about seventeen or eighteen. Opening a bank account was ordinary enough. But a trading account? For stocks?
“Bring his paperwork to my office.”
“Understood.”
Chen Hansong went back upstairs. A few minutes later, the client manager delivered the forms Xu Ye had filled out.
“Xu Ye. Eighteen years old…”
He picked up his phone and called Jiang Meilin.
She was in a meeting and nearly didn’t pick up — but the thought that it might be about Qingqing made her answer.
“Jiang Meilin — is it true that our daughter has a boyfriend?”
“A boyfriend? Chen Hansong, what are you talking about?”
“Just now. She came to the bank to find me. She walked out holding hands with some boy, right in front of me, and told me he was her boyfriend.”
Jiang Meilin’s brow tightened.
She knew her daughter. Knew her well. Boys who could actually capture Qingqing’s attention were practically a theoretical concept.
“I don’t know anything about this.”
“The boy’s name is Xu Ye.”
“What does he look like?”
Chen Hansong went quiet for a moment. “Jiang Meilin. What does that have to do with anything?”
She had no interest in continuing this conversation with him. “I’ll call Ruxue.”
She hung up and found Wang Ruxue in her contacts.
Ruxue had just stopped at a red light. She answered on speaker.
“Ruxue.”
“Jiang Zong.” [TL: 江总 (Jiāng Zǒng) — a respectful form of address using someone’s surname followed by 总 (zǒng), short for 总裁/总经理, meaning president or general manager. Used for senior executives.]
“Quick question — Qingqing’s father just told me she has a boyfriend. What’s going on?”
Wang Ruxue had absolutely no idea how to answer that.
Before she could figure it out, Chen Qingqing spoke from the back seat. “He’s right here next to me. Do you want to say hello?”
She turned and looked at Xu Ye.
Jiang Meilin went quiet on the other end.
The atmosphere in the car became extremely strange. Xu Ye swallowed and forced out the words with some effort.
“Hello, auntie.”
Beep beep beep.
She hung up.
Xu Ye sat there looking mildly traumatized. “Your dad looked at me like he wanted me dead. And now your mom just hung up on me. If I ever have to meet them face to face, they’re not actually going to kill me, are they?”
Chen Qingqing laughed.
Xu Ye turned and looked at her — the clean lines of her profile, and the faint dimple that appeared at the corner of her mouth when she smiled — and forgot what he was going to say next.
Three meetings total. This was the first time he’d seen her laugh.
He wasn’t sure why, but the car suddenly felt warm. His blood was doing something it shouldn’t be.
“We’re at the mall.”
Qingqing opened the door and stepped out. She looked back to find Xu Ye still sitting in the car, not moving.
“Get out.”
“What are we doing?”
She didn’t answer — just stared at him until he climbed out.
They went into the mall together. Behind them, Wang Ruxue watched them disappear through the entrance and immediately called Jiang Meilin back.
Xu Ye fell into step behind Qingqing, then asked carefully: “Your parents are divorced, aren’t they?”
She stopped walking so abruptly he almost walked into her back.
“I don’t mean anything by it. I worked it out.”
“How?”
“The first time we met at the lake — every time I got close, you stepped back. It happened again just now, even though you were the one who grabbed my hand. Your palm was sweating the whole time. That tells me you don’t let people in easily, and that you probably haven’t had a lot of warmth growing up. Then the way you spoke to both your parents just now — it wasn’t hard to put together.”
A pause.
“You’d make a decent detective.”
“You used me to make your parents jealous. That part’s done now. What do you actually need from me?”
Qingqing pressed her lips together and said quietly, “Today is my birthday.”
“Got it.” Xu Ye nodded. “Your parents are both too busy to be here. So this whole thing is partly revenge, partly — you just don’t want to be alone today. You want me to help you finish the scene?”
“Yes.”
“Then come on. We’ll catch a movie, grab dinner after, take a couple of photos for your Moments, and by the time you get home tonight your parents will both be interrogating you.” [TL: Moments (朋友圈, Péngyou Quān) is the WeChat social feed — equivalent to a Facebook or Instagram timeline, widely used in China.]
A small sound — somewhere between a laugh and acknowledgment.
“One condition though — you’re paying for everything.”
Qingqing turned to look at him, genuinely curious. “Are you always this shameless?”
“Honestly, not always. I’ve just been building up to it lately.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“Suit yourself.”
(End of Chapter)